老黃瓜湯

I don't know what do you call 老黃瓜 in English!
Let's just do a direct translation and call it old cucumber soup eh?
I think there are different versions of this particular soup.
If you know a different one, please drop me a message and share yours.
I added garlic to this one.
It was recommended by a friend of mine who used to work in a restaurant.
She told me that the chefs usually put a few garlic for that extra flavour!
I've tried it and so far my hubby has no negative comments.

So.. We will be using the trusty old slow cooker today.
Ain't that nice?
No need to watch the stove!

Now today's ingredients would need..

1. 老黃瓜 x1
   
2. Loin Bones
3. Red Dates x12 (seedless)
4. Aniseeds x1 handful
5. Garlic x3
6. Water x100ml
7. Salt
   

You need only 5 ingredients

Instructions:

1. Blanch the loin bones as usual.
2. Cut 老黃瓜 into pieces
3. Throw ingredients #1-6 together
4. Boil for 4 hours
5. Put salt to taste
   

一碗老黃瓜湯來了！

White Cabbage Mixed Soup 白菜湯

Simple soup dish to make.


Ingredients:

1. Dried mushrooms x6
2. White cabbage
3. Chicken bone x1
   
4. Assorted seafood bits e.g. crabsticks, sotong balls, prawn balls, meat balls
5. Water x 1300ml approximately
6. Salt, pepper to taste
   

Ingredients as mentioned

Preparation:

1. Wash, cut white cabbage into pieces
2. Soak mushrooms in tap water until soft then cut away the stems
3. Blanch chicken bone

Instructions:

1. Boil water
2. Throw cabbage, chicken bone and mushroom and boil for 2 hours
3. When about to serve, throw in the assorted seafood ingredients
4. Add salt, pepper to taste
5. Serve hot

White Cabbage Mixed Soup 白菜湯

Spicy Chicken Nugget

This week's post shall be short and sweet.
I'm pretty tired as darling hubby's car had broke-down and we had been taking the train back home with our little darling cutish monster..

I've used frozen chicken for this particular dish.
Hey, I'm just following the call of the recent campaign to opt for frozen food although I must say that only certain dishes I would opt for frozen.

Do note that frozen food once defrost cannot be refreeze okies?
You might get a really bad bout of tummy ache and throwing up if you mishandled your food.
Ingredients:

1. Chicken Drumsticks (deboned) x4
2. Lime x1/2
3. Salt x 1 1/2 tsp
4. Tumeric Powder x1 tsp
5. Coriander Powder x1 tsp
6. Red Chilli Powder x1 tsp
7. White Pepper x 1/2 tsp
8. Potato Flour (for coating)

Ingredients

Instructions:

1. Marinate chicken pieces with ingredients #2-7 for at least 2 hours (Tip: Use a plastic glove to avoid staining of the tumeric powder onto your beautifully manicured nails)
   
2. Coat chicken before pan-fry or deep-fry whichever way you prefer
3. Remove from wok when golden brown
4. Serve it hot
   

Marinated chicken pieces

Chicken pieces coated with potato flour

Spicy Chicken Nuggets turning golden brown in the wok..
Er..excuse my 'black' looking wok

Szechuan Spicy Chicken

This has got to be one of my favourite dish!
I can eat a lot of rice just with this dish alone. (Now that isn't very good for me cause I'm still trying to lose the post pregnancy weight.. heh heh!)
I got to learn this through one of my cookbooks.
Well, we should all share good food right?
Here it goes!

Ingredients:

1. Chicken fillets x5 pieces
2. Dried chilli x4~5
3. Ginger
4. Spring onion
5. Chinese parsley
6. Hoisin sauce x1 tsp
7. Oyster sauce x1 tsp
   
8. Chinese cooking wine x1 tbsp
   
9. Chilli Bean Paste x 1 1/2 tsp
   
10. Corn flour x2 tbsp
    
11. Salt x1 tsp
12. Egg white x1
    
13. Sesame oil
    

Some of the ingredients as mentioned

Preparation:

1. Chop Chinese parsley
2. Fine slice ginger into thin strips
3. Soak dried chilli in hot water and cut in half
4. Cut spring onions into parts
5. Cut chicken fillet into bite sizes
   
6. Marinate salt, egg white and corn flour with chicken fillet. Leave for 30 minutes
7. Mix Hoisin sauce, Oyster sauce, Chilli Bean Paste and Chinese cooking wine

Instructions:

1. Heat wok and stir fry the chicken until almost cooked
2. Dish out the chicken fillet
3. Fry ginger strips & dried chilli
4. Put the chicken fillet back
5. Throw in the spring onion
6. Stir-fry and put the mixed sauce in and keep stir-fry
7. When almost done and well mixed, add few drops of sesame oil

Viola! You are done!

Szechuan Spicy Chicken

Lotus Root Soup 蓮藕湯

I promised one of my forum mummy friend to post this recipe when I go around making.
Here goes:

Ingredients (for 3 portions):

1. Lotus Root x1 (Tip: Get those muddy type, it taste so much better!)
2. Red dates x12~14
3. Dried cuttlefish x1/2
4. Dried baby scallops
5. Loin Bones x300g
6. Water x1000-1200ml
7. Salt
   

Ingredients

Instructions:

1. Slice the lotus roots
2. Scald the loin bones
3. Rinse the red dates, dried baby scallops & cuttlefish
4. Throw all ingredients plus water together into slow cooker
5. Boil for at least 4 hours!
6. Add salt to taste
   

Lotus Root Soup aka 蓮藕湯

Porridge For The Little One

'This' became like a weekly ritual ever since my little girl had turned at 7 months old.

Oh, you asking me what?
Cooking porridge of course!

Fortunately my mum have been making porridge for her during her weekdays and when it comes to weekends which are more then often spent with Mummy..
I absolutely have no excuse of not cooking her lunch cum dinner.

My spoilt little one has no liking towards rice cereal with vegetable puree. E.g. Pumpkin puree, etc etc
Her taste buds seems accustomed to cooked food only!
Ah.. the wonders how every baby is different!

Coincidentally while performing my weekly marketing this morning, I found a new ingredient to add to her meals.

Sweet Potato

Yippee! New stuff to try!
Ok, I'm gonna stop the harping and go thru' how to cook 'yummy' meals for the growing baby.

Ingredients:

1. Sweet Potato x1
   
2. Potato x 1/2
3. Loin Pork
4. 'Ngoh' fish (Sorry, I don't know what's the English name for the fish)
5. 'New' rice x1 handful

Ingredient as mentioned above

I like to mention one word of caution:
Cooking porridge is more a delicate job than brewing soups and other stuff.
One mistake and you'll end up with burnt porridge.

Instructions:

1. Cut up all the veggies into small pieces
2. Wash rice
3. Boil the rice with enough water
4. When boiling (look at picture), throw in all potatoes, sweet potatoes and loin pork
5. Please remove the bubbles (residue)
6. Turn the stove flame to the lowest
7. Boil for like 45 mins.
8. Throw in the 'ngoh' fish and stir. It will break into small bits which is the way you want it. (The little one can't swallow big bits)
   

Note: Please keep stirring like every 15min interval.

Boiling before turning down the flame

The End Product

I sincerely hope this post was early enough for my fellow forum mummies whom I promised to.

ABC Soup

In case you are wonder what is ABC soup otherwise known as Do-Re-Mi soup.
It's plainly just corn, carrots ,potatoes and loin bones.

I assumed many of you already know this soup at the back of your hand.
Still I would share on how to make this simple dishy soup.

Aside from this, you can also use the soup base for marcaroni.
Just boil chicken breasts and shred.
Add all together you can have chicken marcaroni for lunch!

It's simple cooking for the simple taste buds.

Ingredients:

1. Carrots x1
2. Potatoes x2
3. Maize x1(I bought the 珍珠玉米 as recommended by the veggie seller in the market. Supposedly to be extremely juicy and sweet)
4. Pork Loin Bones 250g
5. Water 1000ml
6. Salt
7. Pepper

Ingredients as mentioned above

Preparation:

1. Cut the potatoes and carrots into blocks
2. Cut the maize into half. (Tip: Cut halfway then use the hand to break the maize)
3. Scald the loin bones

Loin Bones being scalded

Instructions:

1. Boil water
2. Throw in the scalded loin bones, carrots, potatoes and maize
3. After you watch it boil, turn down the stove fire to small flame
4. Boil for 1 hour
5. When done, add salt and pepper to taste
   

ABC Soup

Chicken Karaage

Frankly speaking, this is my first trial at making this dish.
More then often I would find it to be rather convenient buying the ready-made 'frozen' pack.
However this time round, I'm going to be a little more adventurous and try making it from the start.

Ingredients:

1. Chicken Thigh x4
2. Soyu x1 tbsp
3. Japanese Cooking Wine x1 tbsp
4. Mirin (Japanese cooking sweet wine) x1tsp
5. Ginger Juice x1 tsp
6. Garlic x2 Clove
7. Pinch of Salt
8. Pinch of Pepper
9. Pinch of Black Pepper
10. Egg White x1
11. Japanese Potato Starch Powder
12. Corn Starch x2 tbsp
13. Lemon x2 slices

Ingredient as mentioned above

Preparation:

1. Cut the chicken thighs up into small bite sizes
2. Grate the ginger to get the juice
3. Chop up the garlic
4. Mix soyu, Japanese cooking wine, mirin, pepper, black pepper, ginger, garlic, salt together
5. Put in the chicken and marinate
6. Mix the egg white and corn starch and leave it marinate for like at least 30mins (I leave it for like 3-4 hours in the fridge)

Marination in progress

Instructions:

1. Pour oil and heat wok
2. Coat the chicken with potato starch (It makes the chicken rather crispy I say!)
3. When the oil is not enough --> Test it by putting in a chopstick and when u see bubbles around the chopstick means temperature is ok
4. Pan-fry the chicken until golden brown (Deep-fry if you like)
5. Dish up the chicken and squeeze the lemon over the chicken if you like

And you are done!

Dip in sauce like the tonkatsu sauce which you can grab it readily in the supermarket if you like.

If you are wondering what brand to get, get the one with the bull-dog picture...

Otherwise just eat it plain!

Chicken Karaage